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I don't know what the story is of
this single fish, other than it seemed to be quite important to
these men at the fish market in old Dhaka. Given
that I do not speak Bangla, there was no way of finding out what
the context was. This is of course the beauty and the limitation
of photography, that it is open to any interpretation we wish an
image to contain. So rather than speculate endlessly about the real
meaning behind what we are looking at in this picture, I have decided
to appropriate for myself it's meaning. It's about notions on the
meaning of wealth. How rich is a man with one fish?
©
Pedro Meyer, 2004
Bangladesh is according to economists, one
of the poorest countries in the world. And of course the
wages paid in the realm of one dollar a day, for breaking stones,
or two dollars a day for pulling a Rickshaw all day long with a
huge weight that many times is considerably larger than the individuals
themselves, goes a considerable way in confirming that the announced
levels of poverty in Bangladesh are no exaggeration.
©
Pedro Meyer, 2004
©
Pedro Meyer, 2004
However, statistics tend to also obscure other
aspects of life that seem to get lost in such descriptions as "among
the poorest in the world". I found that the people in
Bangladesh are among the friendliest I have ever met any place,
nothing to say that they must be the biggest enthusiast of having
their picture taken that exists on the face of this earth.
I did not find a single instance of someone not wanting their picture
taken, what's more, I had a hard time making any pictures as no
sooner did I point my camera in any one direction that I would find
myself surrounded by dozens of eager candidates to have their image
become part of the intended photograph. To capture some degree of
spontaneity I had to act really fast. That is, before the crowd
moved in and wanted to join the picture.
©
Pedro Meyer, 2004
I have of course no desire to romanticize poverty, nor to turn away
from the reality of their hard existence. Yet it is also very narrow
minded to just look at poverty in comparison to any western standard
of living. How does one factor in to such evaluations, when you
also find that the ability for people to get along with each other,
that is considerably better than many of those in west? My little
son, when he was in his first years in school, was taught what was
called: Conflict Management. The kids had to learn what to do and
how to resolve conflicts, which of course are part of our daily
living. Those skills seemed to be something that needed to be taught
in school. Here in Bangladesh, I have the impression that this is
something they acquire in the water that they drink, or something
of the sort, as their attitudes of dealing with conflict in a positive
manner is something that is so widespread among the population that
surely they did not get such skills in any school program.
Take a case in point, when there is a collision of rickshaws with
other moving vehicles, the first topic they deal with is how can
they fix the problem, not who is to blame. In almost all of the
west, the first thing is establishing blame. Obviously in a society
of the "have not", to resolve the problem at hand is more
beneficial than to fix blame, as from the latter there is nothing
much to be gained. In the west, the economic
pursuit behind establishing who is at fault, is the more important
matter. Probably the most efficient way of getting on with life
is, how it is dealt with, in this very poor nation.
The issue of how people look at pictures takes on another twist
when I heard a story by Shahidul Alam, the man responsible for Chobi
Mela III, (Chobi= photo, and Mela= festival, in Bangla) and
the reason I find myself here in Dhaka.
During an exhibition that was organized here. There was a work shop
conducted some time ago, and the students work was displayed on
the panels and presented to the community where the images were
taken from. One of the girls in the audience, brought her goat to
the exhibition, because she was pictured in one of the images, and
she wanted to have the goat view the picture as well given that
the goat was also in the picture. I doubt very much that in much
of the west, the notion to bring a goat to a photographic exhibition
to see it's image would be something that would occur to many of
us. So there are indeed many things that one can learn in the context
of an environment that has so many different ways of looking at
photography.
by
Shahidul Alam © 1991
This event here, is one of the largest of
it's kind in Asia. Bringing photographers and their work to the
forefront during the two weeks of this festival. I have met
photographers from all over the region, and I am sure that as this
festival grows over the coming years, Bangladesh will increasingly
become a major center for the development of photography. And what
better place to have such an event than a city, where to such a
large extent, photography is welcomed by the population.
Here again, the often mentioned statement
about poverty and digital technology being incompatible is brought
to screeching halt. I was able to print an entire exhibition
here in Dhaka, with Epson providing the printers and papers, and
it all working perfectly well. Rather than shipping prints and frames
all over the world and going through all the usual problems of customs
and the inherent costs of shipping and crating, we were able to
circumvent it all by printing the show on site, the frames were
all made in 48 hours ( and what beautiful frames, on top of it all),
the exhibition opened in time. Another exhibition, which was going
to go up parallel to mine, and sent from the USA, never made it
out of customs. If anyone has doubts how you could be dealing with
international exhibitions with more options than in the past, we
can provide you with some interesting feedback.
I have written many times in other editorials about safety and street
photography, well here in Dhaka, as in any other large metropolitan
conglomerates, there must be a number of "bad characters"
as well, it's only that I have fortunately not run in to them, or
that I do not attract them, either way, the thing is that I would
never dare run around Mexico City, with the same degree of confidence
that I found here.
I
am not the only one with such a sensation of feeling comfortable
walking around with cameras around your neck in old Dhaka,
however there was one photographer from Malaysia who seemed to have
run into trouble every time he went out. So the question is, does
one attract such problems or run ins while photographing on the
street? Are some photographers, trouble magnets by their behavior?
I wonder, and if so, I suspect that dealing with cultural differences
is one of those things that photographers the world over need to
have included in school programs were photography is taught. I do
not know of a single school anywhere, that teaches such important
matters to photographers. It is assumed that we know how to deal
with such matters, and the truth is that it is not.
As the year comes to a close, I am invaded by a degree of sadness,
not only for all the great photographers that are no longer with
us who died during this past year, but also about the political
winds that seemed to have prevailed against all odds, at least so
in the short run. Yet in spite of all of this, what keeps our spirits
high is that that creators of art through out the entire world seem
to be on the upswing. The intensity and dedication of artists throughout
the world ( yes, I view photographers as artists and artists as
photographers when they use photography) is thriving in spite of
material limitations that appear to be part of the global landscape.
It appears that having only one little fish is not such a terrible
alternative when you know what to do and what to say. I get the
feeling that there are more and more photographers who have this
very clear.
We wish you the very best for the coming year of 2005.
Pedro Meyer
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dec 17, 2004
As always please joins us with your comments in our
forums.
picture
of exhibition by Shahidul Alam © 1991
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